Irma Prep, Check my work....

Irma coming and I am in a slip that is well protected to the south, east, west. North is open with nothing to break the wind. Nice small hurricane hole with no chance to develop significant wave action. I am backed into the slip with the stern facing south, bow directly north. Finger pier on my port side and a couple of pilings on starboard, no pier. Hefty cleats in concrete off the stern where I normally tie stern lines. Marina is shutting down so I can sort of do what I want as nobody in and out. I am going to pull boat out of slip and drop an anchor with either all chain or 3/4" 3 strand rode. Put snubber on whatever I put out. Don't have a "formal snubber" so I will have to use rolling hitch to attach. Then back 1/2 way into slip to keep my stern away from concrete pier as far as I can. Load up on fenders on the port/finger pier side. Pilings are such that I can put several spring lines on each side again to hold me out away from concrete dock. Will have aft spring lines as well but less worried about that. Not sure what more I can do tieing up.

I am going to remove all canvas but not sure if I should remove the dinghy cover (dinghy on aft cabin roof, bottom down facing forward with 20HP OB on) or rope it down with line. I also have a cover on the flybridge helm/dash covering some electronics connections/wire. Thinking it best to remove that and then put connections in zip lock type bags with electrical ties to keep them closed.

Close all through hulls. Shore power cable off. All switches off.

What am I missing?

Ot sure about shore power if I would leave on or not.

If flying debris takes out a window, you can get a lot of water in the boat. But if you have enough house capacity for 24 hours pumping (not steady pumping but normal cycling), probably no big deal securing power. Still undecided for me though.

If in greater than 60 knot wind area, then I would take the cover off the bridge and bag and secure the ends. Tie them somehow so they don't flog the dash.

For every place you have a line that contacts something other than directly to a cleat.....CHAFE PROTECTION. Remember plastic tubing is thought to generate enough heat to weaken nylon. I think that is if the line can slide inside the tube instead of the tube sliding, so keep that in mind if using that style protection. If you think you have enough, think more.

I would leave shore power on.
You might need that power to keep batteries charged as long as possible.

Honestly? I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. I'm going to follow the lead of others at my marina. Psneeld, I moved across the pond to Yacht Harbor where there are floating docks.

Double tie, extra spring lines in BOTH directions, chafe gear if you have it, deploy all your fenders.
Tie down anything loose. This is a case of "you can't have too many lines on the boat".
Strip canvas, check you bilge pumps.
Get out of Dodge. If something goes bad you will not be able to stop it.

Hopefully you won't need it, but take pictures of everything and remove important documents from the boat.

re shore power: There's a very good chance that it will go off because of the storm. The marina might turn it off for safety reasons as well.

Benthic2 said:

Hopefully you won't need it, but take pictures of everything and remove important documents from the boat.

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Good point.

Insurers are not happy with so many boaters who do little or nothing.

Several pictures may help greatly if it comes to a debate on a claim, and they may feel better of you as a customer.

I just sent in info/pictures to my insurance company about engine time and upgrades. They cancelled an endorsement that was excluding my machinery.

WesK said:

re shore power: There's a very good chance that it will go off because of the storm. The marina might turn it off for safety reasons as well.

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I'd leave shorepower on, to keep batteries topped as long as possible. If the marina shuts off or loses power, it won't make any difference if yours is on or off.

Sounds like you've thought of most things to prepare. I've been through a few of the southern hemisphere equivalent on board and have found the two thing that cause the most damage in marinas are 1. Other boats that have not been adequately secured. As others have said put out as much external protections i.e fenders as you have but if your not on board there's not a lot more you can do about it. 2. Storm surge that will lift a marina finger up and over the piles. There are some marinas that have cyclone bars that go through the top of the piles to prevent them going over but they rarely remember to use them.

If its a cat 4 or more severe storm any soft coverings left outside wont survive.

Good luck.

Where in Jupiter, I grew up there? I ran to the beach during the eye of David in '79. North wind appears the most likely for Jupiter. And, anchors dockside rarely work in a hurricane. All canvas needs to be gone.

If the cat 4 or 5 materializes over Jupiter, I think I would drive the boat into the Lox into the mangroves. Unless, it was well insured.

Drake said:

I'd leave shorepower on, to keep batteries topped as long as possible. If the marina shuts off or loses power, it won't make any difference if yours is on or off.

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In fixed dock marinas, the water will cover the power pedestals. Our marina will actually pull the guts and meters out of them to minimize damage.